Rodents, flies, cockroaches, and other nuisance insects and animals (hereafter referred to collectively as “pests”) create health concerns and introduce spoilage, among other concerns. Many businesses deploy a variety of traps and/or monitors throughout the business' physical premises and facilities to insure a reduction and/or elimination of such pests. These actions can be undertaken to insure inspection compliance, to maintain sanitary conditions, reduce spoilage, comply with applicable laws and regulations, and/or increase consumer confidence. Even upon complete elimination of pests from a physical site, however, the pests can often find their way back into the premises. For example, open doors, windows or loading docks, cracks in foundations, delivery of contaminated materials or packaging, etc., may all provide an avenue for access back into the premises. Therefore, even if the pests are reduced or eliminated, pest traps are continuously used in order to detect the presence of pest activity.
There is also a recognized need to become more efficient in locating and eliminating pests. Spreading large amounts of pesticides over broad areas to control pests without regard to whether there are actually pests in the area (commonly referred to as a shotgun approach) is undesirable. To reduce the risk of inadvertent human contact with the pesticides, a more directed application is preferable. Further, as the number of traps used in a facility increases, the time associated with checking the status of the traps also increases. This results in higher costs. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a reduced and more targeted application of pesticides, as well as a need for an apparatus and method for detecting pests so that the targeted application can be efficiently applied and an appropriate number of traps may be utilized in those areas in which pests are located or active.
Prior methods of detecting pests include utilizing a single beam of light that is incident on a detector. This type of application is typically found in environments where a limited point of access is available—such as in a beehive. However, due to the limited zone in which pests will trip the light beam, this type of system has significant drawbacks. This drawback is exacerbated when the size of the monitored area increases and/or when there are multiple points of entry or a non-specified point of entry. Typically there are multiple approaches to an insect harborage. Accordingly, this type of sensor has a limited functionality in such an environment. Another system employed in the prior art is thermal detection based on IR. An example of this type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,301 to Farrell et al. However, insects are not generally sensed by such thermal systems. There are also size issues related to the pests being detected. Therefore, each of the prior art systems has drawbacks in detecting pests.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a pest detecting system which detects both rodent and insect pests. Such a system would preferably include a sensitivity to enable determining which type of pest was sensed. Additionally, such a system would preferably be available to be used as either a passive detector and/or as a part of a combined sensor and trap. The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art and addresses this need in the art.